# How do I clear all Gmail notifications? — Adinand Email Cleaner Last reviewed: October 5, 2026. HTML version: https://adinandemail.com/answers/clear-all-gmail-notifications **Wiping the alerts already on your screen is done by the phone, not by Gmail: Android has a "Clear all" button at the foot of the notification shade, and iPhone clears Notification Center from the same screen.** Stopping the next wave is a different job, done inside the Gmail app, where each account has its own notification level that you can drop to "High priority only" or switch off. Do the first to get a clean screen now and the second so it stays that way. ## Clearing them on Android

Pull the shade down from the top of the screen. Google's Android help gives the two gestures: "To dismiss one notification, swipe it left or right," and "To clear all notifications, scroll to the bottom of your notifications and tap Clear all." ([*Control notifications on Android*](https://support.google.com/android/answer/9079661), read 5 October 2026). A few will not budge; the same page says "If you can’t dismiss a notification on your lock screen or through the "Clear all" option, individually dismiss it." It also warns that "Some of these steps may vary based on your device," so the button on your phone may be worded a little differently.

Before you swipe a Gmail alert away, note that you can act on it in place: Google's page says "To act directly from a notification, tap an action, like Reply or Archive." Archiving from the shade clears the alert and files the message in one move.

## Clearing them on iPhone

Swipe down from the top-left corner to open Notification Center. For a single Gmail alert or a stack of them, Apple's instruction is "Swipe left on the notification or group of notifications, then tap Clear or Clear All." ([*View and respond to notifications on iPhone*](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/view-and-respond-to-notifications-iph6534c01bc/ios), read 5 October 2026). To empty the whole list at once, Apple's support article says: "To clear your notification history, tap the Close button, then tap Clear." ([*Use notifications on your iPhone or iPad*](https://support.apple.com/en-us/108781), read 5 October 2026).

## Why the number on the Gmail icon can stay

Clearing an alert dismisses the alert; it does nothing to the email behind it. Google's Gmail notification pages for Android and for iPhone & iPad say nothing about the badge on the app icon ([*Change Gmail notifications (Android)*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1075549?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid) and [*Change Gmail notifications (iPhone & iPad)*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1075549?co=GENIE.Platform%3DiOS), both read 5 October 2026). Apple explains badges with its own Mail app as the example: "If you turn on badges for Mail, for example, the number of unread emails in your inbox appears above the Mail icon on your Home Screen." (the *Use notifications on your iPhone or iPad* page above).

So if the number survives a cleared Notification Center, it is coming from the app, not from the alerts. You have two ways out. Hide it: in the iPhone Settings app, tap Notifications, then Gmail under Notification Style, and switch off Badges, the toggle Apple describes as "Show a badge on the app icon: Turn on Badges." ([*Change notification settings on iPhone*](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/change-notification-settings-iph7c3d96bab/ios), read 5 October 2026). Android's equivalent is the dot, under Settings, Notifications, "Notification dot on app icon" (the *Control notifications on Android* page above). Or deal with the mail itself; if it is a pile of unread messages, [clearing unread emails on iPhone](https://adinandemail.com/answers/clear-my-unread-emails-on-iphone) covers that.

## Getting fewer of them: the Gmail app on Android

Out of the box, Google says, "notifications are turned on for any messages in your Primary label." (the *Change Gmail notifications (Android)* page above). To change that, open the Gmail app, tap Menu, then Settings, pick your account, and under "Notifications" tap Email notifications. From there:

Two catches from the same page. The level is set per account ("change this setting for each account"), so a second account in the app can keep buzzing after you have quietened the first. And the master switch sits in Android itself: Menu, Settings, General settings, then Manage notifications, where you can "Turn All Gmail notifications on or off."

## Getting fewer of them: the Gmail app on iPhone

The iPhone app has the same default for the Primary label. Tap Menu, then Settings, then under "Notifications" tap Email notifications and "Select a notification level", with High priority only among the choices (the *Change Gmail notifications (iPhone & iPad)* page above). That page has no steps for per-label notifications, unlike its Android twin, so on iPhone the account-wide level is the control Google documents. To silence Gmail entirely, iOS's own switch is Allow Notifications on that same Gmail screen in Settings (the *Change notification settings on iPhone* page above).

## On a computer

Gmail in Chrome, Firefox or Safari has three choices under Settings, See all settings, "Desktop notifications": "New mail notifications on", "Important mail notifications on" and "Mail notifications off". Click Save Changes at the bottom ([*Change Gmail notifications*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1075549), read 5 October 2026). With inbox tabs in use, "you only get notifications about messages in your Primary category", which is also why mail sorted into Promotions or Updates arrives without an alert; [an empty Primary tab](https://adinandemail.com/answers/my-gmail-primary-tab-empty) looks at that from the other side. For how Gmail decides what counts as important, see [why Gmail marks mail important](https://adinandemail.com/answers/gmail-going-to-important-folder).

One long thread doing most of the buzzing is better handled by [muting the conversation](https://adinandemail.com/answers/mute-a-conversation-in-gmail) than by turning notifications down for everything.

Related: [Clearing unread emails on iPhone](https://adinandemail.com/answers/clear-my-unread-emails-on-iphone) · [Why the Primary tab is empty](https://adinandemail.com/answers/my-gmail-primary-tab-empty) · [Why Gmail marks mail important](https://adinandemail.com/answers/gmail-going-to-important-folder) · [Muting a conversation in Gmail](https://adinandemail.com/answers/mute-a-conversation-in-gmail)